New Recipes

Cashew Shrimp

I love it that the Chinese restaurants in the US offer special lunch menu. For about $5-$7, you get a complete meal of an entree, rice, and a bowl of soup. Some days when I am too lazy to make lunch, or when I don’t have lunch dates with my friends, I always find myself at a Chinese restaurant, getting my fix of cheap and filling Chinese food.

Recently, I have been going to be a Chinese restaurant close to my house. I have tried many dishes on their special lunch menu, but I am hooked on their cashew shrimp—a simple shrimp stir-fry with cashew nuts (my favorite nut), snow peas, carrots, and canned straw mushrooms. I am probably biased as I love both shrimp and cashew nuts, but I thought their version of cashew shrimp has “wok hei” (breath of wok), with juicy and bouncy shrimp, and the sauce is the epitome of Cantonese cooking—light, savory, and just coats the shrimp and ingredients. I love it.

So today, I decided to attempt it at home. I tried to replicate the same taste, with slightly less oil. The end result was this beautiful, delicious, and pleasing cashew shrimp recipe that goes so well with steamed white rice. This is great for a small family of 2-3 people, served with other dishes.

When it comes to shrimp, I usually get my shrimp at Asian supermarkets, because they are available at an average of $5 – $6 per pound, depending on the size of the shrimp, and whether or not they are shelled. This is cheap as the price can be easily double at regular stores, such as Whole Foods. Shrimp is very tasty and your family can enjoy shrimp more often if you know where to get the cheapest shrimp. Try this cashew shrimp recipe and I am sure everyone would really enjoy it.